LITURGY MATTERS: The Blood of Christ: A holy intoxication

By Michael McKenna, Archdiocesan Master of Ceremonies

To pray the medieval prayer ‘Anima Christi’(‘Soul of Christ’) is to petition God not for material blessings or success, but for a complete union with Christ and through that union, reconciliation, sanctification, and salvation. Contained within it is the phrase: “Blood of Christ, inebriate me.”

In isolation, the passage is a bold prayer in itself. As a metaphor the imagery comes from a long Christian tradition of what the Church fathers and mystics called a ‘holy’ or ‘sober intoxication’. St Ambrose used this expression to describe the soul filled with the Holy Spirit and God’s love. It reflects a disposition of intoxication not of wine but rather of grace, proposing an image of spiritual abundance and complete surrender to God.

For St Bernard of Clairvaux, this holy intoxication was not a losing of oneself, as we might otherwise understand inebriation, but rather a finding oneself in the overwhelming love of Christ. To be inebriated by the Blood of Christ is to be so filled with gratitude for redemption that one’s whole life becomes an act of love in return. In his reflections on the Song of Songs (Song 2:4), St Bernard interprets the referenced wine cellar as an experience of profound intimacy with God. The soul, admitted into the depths of divine love, becomes filled with joy that far exceeds any ordinary human satisfaction.

St Peter writes, Christians were ransomed “not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ” (1 Peter 1:18–19).

Redeemed not by our own efforts, to pray “Blood of Christ, inebriate me” is to ask that Christ’s redeeming love so transform us that we become people of discernment, reconciliation, and communion. It is a plea that the redeeming Blood shed on Calvary and offered in the Eucharist penetrate every part of our life, healing wounds, forgiving sin, strengthening faith, and drawing the soul ever deeper into communion with God. The same Blood that reconciles us to God also binds us to one another, enabling us to walk together in faith, attentive to the Spirit and committed to the mission of Christ.

In dedicating the month of July to the Precious Blood, the Church invites us to reflect more deeply on the sacrifice Christ made on Calvary and on the saving grace that continues to flow from His Passion. In this context to be ‘inebriated’ by that Precious Blood is to be overwhelmed by the realisation of how greatly one is loved and redeemed, forgiven, and constantly sustained by the grace that flows from Christ’s saving sacrifice.

How glorious is the cup that inebriates!